I got a new phone. Since I did not want any money going to Hitler$oft I didn't
have a lot of choices. I got a Google branded phone, a Nexus 5. It is very
light. The screen is clear and bright, and it was easy to root.

What mail client do you use and why do you uninstall gmail? Google usually does no wrong at any point.I am upset with my Samsung phone. Samsung has all their own versions of software and makes them system apps so you can't uninstall them easily. One thing that drives me crazy is the home key has been assigned as a double press hot key for Samsung's equivelent to Siri. (I think) I have no interest in this, when I want to get back to the home screen I frequently press the home key twice. This brings up the disclaimer saying I have to accept the terms of agreement to use this Siri type of program. I don't want to use it, I do not accept the terms of agreement. According to the forums I can disable the home key option! GREAT! All is I have to do is accept the terms of agreement and disable the option in the settings. WTF. In order to not use something you have to use it.

I am using the mail client that came with the phone, pointed to both my personal
and work email accounts. I don't have a problem wih Gmail other than
I just don't use it so I don't want a dedicated client for it taking up space
on my phone.

I do have a folder on my personal email account that my gmail forwards to.
It basically functions as an inbox for notifications on google services like
youtube abnd g+ etc

Well after a few days I do have to say that Android 4.4 is totes amazeballs.
Thankfully the Nexus 5 is *not* larded up with manufacturer crapware or carrier
crapware, so after rooting it I really didn't feel inclined to change the
ROM to anything other than stock (after removing the few system apps I didn't
want, like gmail).

I also discovered that T-Mobile has gone totally native IPv6 on their network
for devices running Android 4.4 (and presumably higher, later on). When I'm
on 4G (wifi shut off or out of range) the phone gets a native, globally routable
IPv6 address, and an IPv4 address of 192.0.0.2 that tunnels out a 4-to-6-to-4
NAT gateway somewhere on their network.

I do have my Jolla mobile phone now since xmas and I love the UI and the UX. This whole swipe gestures idea makes one-handed use a bliss, every part of the UI is designed to be useable while walking, for example. No tiny buttons to aim and sharpshoot, no nonsense. I also have a terminal, root access and a real linux running beneath. I can actually ssh over wifi to the device. By default, without "rooting".

I also do have an alien dalvik/android emulator which runs rather fine, only some minor crashes. My problem now is, although there are some nice apps, the overall uglyness and the clutter and the "creative" gestalt of all the different android apps make me want to puke. We have an ipad and an iphone here at home and the overall aesthetics are lightyears beyond everything android. I would have to burn out my eyes out if I ever were forced to using android all the time. I actually do not want to use those apps. Evernote and Zite are examples of how to make a nice looking android app, ElectroDroid is so helpful that I can excuse the looks. Everything else should start from scratch.

I'd rather have Citadel support all the common connections, like CardDAV, CalDAV and ActiveSync, so it could be integrated with the mobile OS. Email already works on most mobiles. After that, there might be room for an app.

Verizon/Samsung/Android pushed some update to my phone. I was trying to leave the house and the wifi but I waited for it to completely download. After I upgrade I noticed most of the icons had changed, not a great deal but enough to annoy someone. The phone's flash would flash when I received a call but the setting is turned off for that option. I lost my calendar info but it is still on the server.They did not fix the accept the user agreement so you don't have to accept the user agreement problem.Most of the cool new features I wont take advantage of. There is one that I am glad they added I just have to set it up. You can turn the phone's features on and off a certain time each day. For example turn off all phone calls and text messages at 10pm. It also has an "exception" rule where you can set it to allow certain people's calls through. I like this idea, what I don'tlike is there should be more flexibility to the schedule, it needs more options such as seperate weekday/weekend hours, or if you want it off for nap time each afternoon.

Yes, as for now, smartphones are incredibly dumb when it comes to situation awareness. Your android update basically clones an iphone feature, but even apple made it barely configurable. What I want is something like this: http://www.pastillilabs.com/Situations

Every day, we use our phones to change its behavior. But why wouldn't you let your phone do it for you:

Forgot to switch to silent during meetings?

Have Music player opened when you connect your headphones.

Extend phone's battery life when not in use.

Let your phone reply missed calls with SMS.

Receive SMS when your kids are leaving school and arriving at home.

You could configure this app to switch phone behavior based on gps position, wifi and cell phone network station, combined with time and day. What I additionally need would be support for contact groups, so some people could reach me at night when all other calls are blocked. Close family and friends should be able to ring when it is urgent, e.g. they need to be fetched up when their car broke or somebody is in the hospital. Or they won the jackpot and want to leave for a tax haven on some carribean island ...

This is in general something smartphones should learn, not all contacts are equally important. I do not want to receive calls/emails from clients on weekends, etc.

After not quite 10 months, my Google Nexus 7 committed suicide by jumping
off the roof of my automobile. At about 40 mph.

I'm trying to decide whether it had become such an integral part of my life
that it must be replaced. I definitely miss it, particularly during any period
of time where I'm waiting around for something.

Fascinating.
My Nexus 7 died 2 weeks ago. Battery would no longer take a charge. Tried
my friend's charger - didn't do it for my unit.

So it is officially "dead" and on a shelf at my friend's house, which conveniently
keeps me from playing football with the useless piece of crap.

Just a hair past a year old. Poof. Gone.

I replaced it - with a 10.1" Insignia toy at Best Cry. On sale. $179.
It does what I want it to do. Which means at that price it was a steal -
for me. It is not an iPad (thank GOD!) but it is fast, a 10.1" screen (nice@!)
and onboard speakers that you can actually hear! The quality is not "hi-fi"
but if you use them primarily to listen to talk radio (I live in a very commercial-radio
unfriendly area geographically) it fills the bill nicely.